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Krishna - The ArchetypalMentor

Ranjith Menon


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Background

Mentoring, is the process by which people help aprotg to promote his/her personal and professionalgrowth for organizational success.

Mentoring is routinely seen as manifesting soft skillssuch as the classical virtues of kindness and generosity.The fact that it can also be harsh seems to escape themind of most theorists. Therefore an account of a realmentoring relationship, one that is widely recognized andone in which various mentoring styles are manifested,becomes necessary.


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Mentoring in Our Context

In the Indian context the most successful mentoringrelationship is the one between Krishna and Arjuna.Religious preaching and the fantastic mythical detailshave made it difficult to analyze this relationship andseparate fact from fiction.

The famous depth psychologist, Carl Jung held theopinion that myths were a guide that enabled a person

journey to wholeness. The fantastic details encountered inmyths had to be sifted through to get to the coremessage. Using this perspective we can strip away thedivinity associated with Krishna so that we get a picture ofthe real Krishna and his relationship with Arjuna.


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The choice of Krishna as the ideal mentor is due to thefact that Krishna performed multiple roles and hadnumerous mentoring styles. He was leader, manager,negotiator, manipulator, motivator, influencer, all rolledinto one. An account of his mentorship would therefore

enable us see the diverse styles of mentoring that areneeded for diverse situations.


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Arjuna was the individual on whose shoulders the morale of Pandavasrested. His well being heralded victory and he was symbolic of Pandavavalour & glory. He was proud of his achievements, but he was also veryvain and sensitive to other people's opinion of him. Though a youngerbrother, he had no elder brother to look up to. In fact, he wasresponsible for looking after the family since Yudhishthira, the eldest

was unable to do so. Thus, he had varied needs as an individual.

Krishna saw the needs as well as the potential of his young friend andbuilt a successful mentoring relationship. As the account of not just thewar but the entire Pandava saga shows, Krishna's help would enableArjuna to surmount obstacles and achieve success personally as well asprofessionally i.e in his duties as a warrior and a prince.


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What lessons of mentoring may be learned from theirrelationship?

How was he able to provide support and guidance to anindividual whose needs were so diverse and so intense?


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Show support in word and deed-Building trust

Krishna proclaimed his love for Arjuna publicly and made it clearthat he attached the highest importance to his friendship with Arjuna.They spent much time together and Krishna took every opportunityto demonstrate his affection for Arjuna. One of the best examples of

this is found in the incident of the burning of the khandav forest . Toplease Agni, Krishna and Arjuna fought Indra and the devas anddefeated them. Pleased with their valour, Indra offered boons toboth of them. While Arjuna asked for weapons, Krishna asked thathis friendship with Arjuna continue forever. The mythical dimensionsof this story notwithstanding, it makes Krishna's fondness for Arjunavery clear. The basis of mentorship lies in being publicly supportive

and standing by your protege. The first step to mentoring is buildingtrust.


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Constant support withoutinterference-building self confidence

Krishna was always supportive of Arjuna but he never interfered inArjuna's life. He confined his role to providing advice. At no point dowe see Krishna commanding Arjuna to take decisions or actions

chosen by him. Arjuna had a fragile psyche and he would not havetolerated anyone telling him what to do. Furthermore, it wasnecessary that Arjuna build confidence in himself. Then only wouldhe be able to take his own decisions. Thus, not only did Krishna notinterfere, but he saw to it that Arjuna did not unduly depend uponhim-a constant danger in a mentoring relationship.


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A relationship of fun and cheer-building openness and warmth

Krishna's relationship with Arjuna was not a grim one. Krishna'spenchant for pranks is well known and that ensured that therelationship would have been a warm one with a laughter and cheer.Arjuna with his multiple roles and responsibilities took himself tooseriously leading to outbursts and displays of temper. A lightheartedrelationship ensured that Arjuna was able to view his own actions

more objectively. Krishna also ensured that stress was reduced andArjuna was able to feel confident about Krishna's interest in him. Amentor usually has the mentee in awe of him. Unless mentors showthemselves to be comrades, it is impossible for the mentees to openup to them.


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Provide criticism without denigrating theprotg-have a non judgemental attitude

Krishna criticised Arjuna's decisions openly but never denigrated orinsulted him. Krishna focused on the issues involved without being

judgemental. He did not engage in personal humiliation of Arjuna.Arjuna therefore knew that Krishna would provide him with soundadvice and not be swayed by the fear of negatively affecting theirrelationship.


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Support protg in difficult tasks despitereservations-give unconditional support

Krishna often criticised Arjuna for wrong decisions but he never leftArjuna to fend for himself and reap the consequences of those

decisions. When Abhimanyu was killed and Arjuna took a vow thathe would either kill Jayadrath by the evening or commit suicide,Krishna was very critical but put heart and soul into assisting Arjunato achieve his goal. Thus, standing by your protege against all oddseven your own disagreement with his decision helps build thementor-mentee relationship.


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Help protg to make decisions in timesof personal crisis-personal counseling

Krishna was friend cum counselor to Arjuna and took the time out to

help resolve Arjuna's personal distress. When Arjuna faced a moralcrisis in fighting his relatives, Krishna came to the rescue bypropounding the philosophy enshrined in the Gita. He did not resortto a simplistic command tactic, but made the effort to resolveArjuna's moral distress to the best of his ability.


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Search for ways to enable the protgbecome aware of his limitations-encourage

self awareness

There are tales of Krishna destroying Arjuna's vanity. This wasnever done openly. The tales talk of tests in which he was destinedto fail. At the last moment when a dejected Arjuna would be lonely

and depressed and thinking of committing suicide, Krishna wouldappear and tell him the reason for these tests. These tests wererelated to Arjuna's overblown pride in his prowess as an archer.Following these tests, a chastened Arjuna vanquished his vanity andworked towards setting higher standards and viewing failure withmaturity.


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Conclusion

These are seven cardinal principles that can enable asuccessful mentoring relationship. Techniques andtactics for putting these into effect may differ, but asStephen Covey puts it, it is important to be clear aboutprinciples.

The question then arises as to whether the samerelationship can be built today. This is possible if onemakes it a personal goal to be a complete mentor andemulate the multiple styles of Krishna. The other meansis to select a role that one is comfortable with & canexcel in and provide mentoring support to those thatneed it . That choice is ours.


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Thank You

krishna the archetypal mentor1 155

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